Lebanon council OKs golf carts on city streets

March 19, 2006

LEBANON, Ind. (AP) -- Golf carts will soon be legal on most city streets, even though the state won't license them. "Whether they are licensed or not, they are on the road," said City Councilwoman Emmadell Sturgis, during the 4-2 Monday vote to legalize the carts in the city 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis. "We thought doing something was better than doing nothing." The ordinance, which will be effective in about a month, states that golf carts must be operated by a licensed driver and can only be on certain city streets between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. from May 1 to Sept. 30, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m from Oct. 1 to April 30. Drivers must obtain an annual $30 permit from the city, which can be suspended after two violations in one year. Sturgis said the state was not doing anything to keep golf carts off the roads. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles does not license the carts, but doesn't bar them either, spokesman Adam Garrett told The Associated Press. "It's not our place to enforce that because we're not an enforcement agency," he said. The issue in Lebanon began last summer when entrepreneurs rented dozens of carts to people during the city's Fourth of July celebration. Police received several complaints about reckless driving and carts being driven four abreast down dark streets. "We had this chaos because we had a few people renting golf carts last July Fourth who screwed it up for a whole lot of people," said Lebanon resident Sonny Richardson, who supports the use of the carts on city streets. Police Chief Tom Garoffolo said officers were powerless because the city had no specific ordinance regulating the carts.